Trinity River Authority Clean Rivers Program 2014 Basin Highlights Report Watershed Characterizations for the Elm Fork, East Fork, Cedar Creek, and Richland-Chambers Subwatersheds INTRODUCTION land use in these subwatersheds consists The Texas Clean Rivers Program (CRP) of row crop agriculture and rangeland. was created in 1991 by Texas Senate Bill Fertilizers used on crops and fields may 818 and is administered by the Texas contribute to the nutrient concerns seen Commission on Environmental Quality throughout these water bodies. (TCEQ) which contracts with local plan- ning agencies to conduct the program in Many of the reservoirs in these subwa- each river basin. The program is tasked tersheds have been classified as eu- with protecting the water resources of trophic to hypereutrophic based on the the state and improving water quality. In “Trophic Classification of Texas Reser- the Trinity River basin, the TRA Clean voir” report by TCEQ (http:// Rivers Program focuses on water quality www.tceq.state.tx.us/assets/public/ monitoring, special projects, and public compliance/monops/water/04twqi/04_ outreach to achieve the goals of the pro- reservoir_narrative.pdf). This report gram. More information about the TRA states that reservoirs become more eu- CRP and activities can be found at http:// trophic as they age due to a buildup of www.trinityra.org/clean-rivers- nutrients within the reservoir, which is program.htm. the likely cause for Chlorophyll-a issues in these reservoirs. Data collected by the TRA CRP are used for regulatory purposes, such as setting water quality standards, modeling for permit BASIN HIGHLIGHTS REPORT limits, and for water quality assessments. Every two years, TCEQ conducts an as- This report is intended to characterize the watersheds of the Trinity River basin. sessment of water quality throughout the state and issues a Water Quality Integrated Features such as land use, soil and vegetation types, and watershed activities are Report; which identifies impairments and concerns for designated uses. These des- reviewed. Potential sources of impairments and concerns based on the 2012 Texas ignated uses include Aquatic Life Use, Contact Recreation, General Use, Fish Con- Water Quality Integrated Report are identified and recommendations to improve sumption, and Public Water Supply Use. The 2012 Texas Water Quality Integrated water quality are suggested when known. Report was used in the development of this report. This report focuses on the Elm Fork and East Fork Trinity River as well as the Ce- TRINITY RIVER BASIN dar Creek and Richland-Chambers subwatersheds. The 2012 Basin Highlights Re- The Trinity River basin covers approximately 18,000 square miles. As discussed in port covered the Main Stem Trinity River and the Trinity River below Lake Living- the 2012 Basin Highlights Report, the northern portion of the Trinity River Basin is ston. The 2013 Basin Highlights Report covered the West and Clear Forks and Vil- influenced by the features found in this area-namely the Blackland Prairie and the lage and Mountain Creek subwatersheds. This report concludes the watershed char- Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex (DFW). In contrast, a large portion of the subwater- acterizations of the basin with the Elm Fork and East Fork Trinity River and the sheds discussed in this report are rural with small areas of urbanization throughout Cedar Creek and Richland-Chambers subwatersheds. Site numbers listed in the text the watersheds. of this report are defined in the Site Glossary at the end of this document. In addi- tion, the sites assigned to each assessment unit are as defined by the 2012 Texas Over the past year, many of the water bodies in these subwatersheds have experi- Water Quality Integrated Report and may change slightly in future water quality enced ongoing drought conditions with the reservoirs falling below conservation integrated reports. pool elevation and the streams going dry or having very low flows. Much of the 1 POTENTIAL CAUSES OF IMPAIRMENT OR INTEREST Elm Fork Subwatershed Low DO values reported in AU 3 may be related to typical low flows found in this segment. Nutrients and chlorophyll a values throughout the reach may be related to 0824 – Elm Fork Trinity River Above Ray Roberts Lake the contributions of small wastewater treatment plants in the segment as well as the runoff from fertilizers used in row crop agriculture throughout the segment. SEGMENT DESCRIPTION Segment 0824 begins at a point 9.5 km (5.9 miles) downstream of the confluence of POTENTIAL STAKEHOLDERS Pecan Creek in Cooke County and continues up to US 82 in Montague County. City of St Jo There are five assessment units in this segment. 0824_01 is the lower 7.5 miles of City of Muenster the segment. Sites in this assessment unit include 11029 and 11031. 0824_02 is a City of Lindsay two mile reach near an unmarked county road 1.4 km downstream of the Gainesville City of Gainesville wastewater treatment plant. Sites in this assessment unit include 11033. 0824_03 is City of Dallas a 3.5 mile reach near SH 51. Sites in this assessment unit include 15635 and 17670. 0824_04 is a 25 mile reach near FM 3108. Sites in this assessment unit include RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVING WATER QUALITY 16432. 0824_05 is the upper 48 miles of segment. Landowner education on water quality could assist in preventing runoff of chemicals from farming and landscaping. Limiting the use of pre-emergent herbicides and fer- Figure 0824.1 shows the locations of assessment units, monitoring stations, dis- tilizers or opting for safer alternatives may reduce the harm of runoff into the stream chargers, landfills, and confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs). Table 0824.1 from the cropland and rangeland found in this area. lists the stations being monitored in fiscal year 2014 as well as the parameters being collected and the frequency of sampling. ONGOING PROJECTS There are no ongoing projects in this segment. HYDROLOGIC CHARACTERISTICS The median annual average discharge in this segment is 97.0 cubic feet per second MAJOR WATERSHED EVENTS (PRESENT AND FUTURE) (cfs) based on historic values at the USGS flow gage near Gainesville (08050400). There are no known or anticipated events that would affect water quality in this seg- The outfalls of the cities on Saint Jo, Muenster, and Lindsay contribute to the ment. There are several small dischargers in this segment; one of which renewed streamflow at this gage. The City of Gainesville outfall meets this segment down- their water quality permit in 2012. See Table 0824.3 for details. stream of the mentioned USGS gage. Over the past year, post-rainfall flows have returned to normal in less than a week for short duration rain events. Large magni- IMAGES tude peak flows caused by multiple rain events over several days have generally See Figures 0824.5 to 0824.8 for images of this segment. returned to normal within two weeks. IMPAIRMENT/AREA OF INTEREST DESCRIPTION Based on the 2012 Texas Water Quality Integrated Report, there are impairments in assessment units 0824_01, 0824_02, and 0824_03. Details of the assessment are located in Table 0824.2. LAND USE AND NATURAL CHARACTERISTICS This watershed is mainly rural with cropland and pastures dominating the land use. There is a smaller band of rangeland dotted with areas of forest seen on the western and very southeastern ends of the watershed. The main watershed drainage is locat- ed almost totally within the Grand Prairie. A few of the tributaries drain part of the Eastern Cross Timbers in the lower part of the watershed. See Figures 0824.2 to 0812.4 for land covers, soil regions, and vegetative provinces in this watershed. See Figure 0824.1 for three small dischargers in this area, plus the discharge from the largest town along this segment: the City of Gainesville. There are also several landfills in close proximity to the segment, seen in Figure 0824.1. 2 FIGURE 0824.1 3 TABLE 0824.1: Fiscal Year 2014 Monitoring 24 Monitoring Site Monitoring Segm ent AU Site Description Hour Metals Water Conventional Bacteria Flow Field Entity ID Type DO 2 (Dissolved Arsenic, ELM FORK TRINITY RIV ER 12 (Water Temp, Air Temp, Barium, Cadmium, IMMEDIA TELY DOWNSTREA M OF Specific Conductance, DO, PH, Dallas 0824 0824_01 11031 RT Chromium, Copper, FM 2071 SOUTH OF Flow Severity, Days Since Lead, Nickel, Silver, GAINESVILLE (R1) Precipitation Event) Zinc, Selenium) 4 TABLE 0824.2: 2012 Water Quality Integrated Report Use criteria Criteria Method Category geomean) Parameter Number of Number of Description Impairment Segment and samples exceed exceed samples Dataset Qualifier Dataset Assessment Unit assessed (avg or Mean ofsamples Mean ofsamples Mean Impairment Level samples assessed that exceed criteria 0824_01 General Use Nutrient Screening Levels Nitrate ID CS* 0824_01 General Use Nutrient Screening Levels Orthophosphorus 0.37 5 3 1.18 LD CS* 0824_01 General Use Nutrient Screening Levels Total Phosphorus ID CS* 0824_01 General Use Nutrient Screening Levels Chlorophyll-a ID CS* 0824_02 General Use Nutrient Screening Levels Nitrate ID CS* 0824_02 General Use Nutrient Screening Levels Orthophosphorus 0.37 4 3 1.33 LD CS* 0824_03 Aquatic Life Use Dissolved Oxygen grab screening level Dissolved Oxygen Grab 5 29 5 4.12 AD CS 0824_03 General Use Nutrient Screening Levels Chlorophyll-a 14.1 26 13 28.38 AD CS Dataset Qualifier Codes Impairment Level AD-Adequate Date (10 or more samples) CS-Screening level concern ID-Inadequate data (less than 4 samples) CS*-Screening level concern carried forward from LD-Limited Data (between 4 and 9 samples) previous assessments 5 FIGURE 0824.2: LAND COVER FIGURE 0824.3: SOIL REGIONS FIGURE 0824.4: VEGETATIVE PROVINCES 6 TABLE 0824.3: New and Renewed Discharge Permits Notice received Per mit Segment Permitee/Facility County Permit Type Action Status by TRA on Number 824 3/16/2012 LINDSAY, TOWN - STP Cooke Water Quality Renew al Final 10923-001 7 FIGURE 0824.5: FIGURE 0824.6: FIGURE 0824.7: FIGURE 0824.8: 8 assessment units 0840_01, 0840_02, 0840_03, 0840_04, and 0840_08.